


226705

by creamcoffee5



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creamcoffee5/pseuds/creamcoffee5
Summary: I wrote this at like 4am. I feel like Unwound Future could be better. So I just wrote Clive and Layton actually having emotions instead of being void robots. I can't do titles so I just put numbers. First fic in like 5-6 years, maybe longer.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	226705

I stared at the mirror adjacent to the wall. I thought about how it was fixed in place, but the world in it was able to move around. How I felt sometimes, stuck in place as things continue around me. I pressed a hand to it, although I wasn't sure why. Cold. Maybe I expected to be drawn in. Drawn into an opposite world where bad things didn't happen and I wasn't pretending to be someone I'm not. Apparently I hadn't been paying much attention, as a certain professor had been knocking at my door for a while, before coming in. Or maybe it wasn't a while. I wasn't sure. Time felt like liquid. All this time travel business made it hard to keep track of anything anymore. 

He walked over to me. I pulled my hand back suddenly awake. He looked at me and then at my arm, which was covered in light marks. Faded. Old. But very much still there. He tipped his hat.  
"Luke?" He began. I wanted so desperately to tell him already. About everything and my stupid plan. "Did something happen when we drifted apart?" He asked, and I was unsure if it was genuine or if he understood the bigger picture now. My hands began to shake. Tears formed behind my eyes and I tried to blink them away but they started falling instead. I wrapped my arms around him, and it felt familiar. Safe, but I'm scared again. 10 years in the future seemed to be no different than 10 years in the past. 

I wasn't sure he got it yet, but I didn't care. I continued to cry. He rubbed my back, unsure of what to do. I pulled away to speak. "I'm not Luke. I can't be Luke, not anymore." Layton looked at me, confused, but I could see he was piecing things together. "I don't want to do this. I don't know what to do. I wanted to be someone I'm not and at first I thought it felt okay." I ran a hand through my hair. "I realised it felt like nothing. And when I saw the friendship you and Luke had I became angry. I felt empty. I realised I wanted to be me and enjoy the time I spent with you differently." I wanted to rip my hair out or do anything to stop myself because I felt like I was talking too much. I felt like the professor hated me. Instead he reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. "Clive." He paused. He did know. Years of memories I tried to repress came flooding back. "I understand now, and I'm glad that you told me." I looked up. "It doesn't have to be this way. If you enjoy our time together, you can say so. And if you feel lonely, there's always a place at home." He smiled at me, and then reached a hand out. I took it. Warm. It was friendly and caring and I felt like for the first time in forever someone wanted me here. I had a friend now. Someone to call home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I use a lot of short sentences I'm not sure why. Anyway Clive canonically has some sort of PTSD and I hate how the series demonises what could have been a well written character with a mental illness. It really irritated me and the reason he does what he does is stupid. If he had support and if Layton hadn't waited till the last second to do something he would have been fine. Clive talks about how he wanted Layton to help him this whole time and that he felt he enjoyed their time together so I thought why not just write about that. I think Clive could have been written a lot better and it's unfair. They used and had him experience his trauma again and again as a plot point to make him do something evil. It's not good. Yuck. Okay... See you soon.


End file.
